Kite Area Perimeter

Kite Net Construction

One of my favorite geometry problems is to discover the area formulas for various quadrilaterals. Notice that I created a grid to help the reader think about the dimensions in this kite.

Task 1: Create the kite that has diagonals that are 80 units by 100 units.

This video does not have sound. It was created in 2014 in an old version of SketchUp.

Task 2: Find the area of the kite

The diagonals of this kite are d_1= 80" and d_2=100".

You should be using what you know about triangles and symmetry to work this out.

Note that the grid can also help us find the perimeter of this kite.

Task 3: Find the perimeter of the kite

Use what you know about triangles to find P.

Task 4: Generalize your methods for finding the area and perimeter

Find the general formula for the area of a kite with dimensions d1 and d2.

Find the general formula for the perimeter of a kite with dimensions d1 and d2.

June 2014